


Signs and Wonders

by 1848pianist



Series: Miles to Go Before I Sleep [2]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Chicago (City), Fluff, M/M, Museums
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-07
Updated: 2013-07-07
Packaged: 2017-12-18 01:07:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/873956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1848pianist/pseuds/1848pianist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Museums. Lots of museums. Probably entirely too many museums, especially if you're jetlagged.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Signs and Wonders

**Author's Note:**

> Also for JehanFerres.  
> This is partially based on a true story but mostly it's just fluff.

Jehan was too tired to do much more than fall face-down, fully dressed on the couch when they arrived at the apartment. Combeferre, equally exhausted, also went straight to bed with hardly a “goodnight.” In any case, he realized, it was really early morning by that point.

            Combeferre woke up late, and, as he wasn’t much of a cook, set out a variety of breakfast cereals for Jehan to choose from. Upon reflection, Combeferre really hadn’t thought this out. He wondered if he ought to wake Jehan up and decided it was best to let him sleep. It was a moot point, because just then Jehan wandered in from the living room.

“Good morning,” Combeferre greeted him.

            “Hmm,” Jehan said incoherently, sitting down next to Combeferre and proceeding to drape himself on the other man’s arm.

            “Still tired?” Combeferre asked unnecessarily, enjoying the fact that he was actually able to touch Jehan instead of just sending pointlessly wishful texts.

            “Bring me caffeinated tea and I’ll perk right up,” Jehan mumbled into Combeferre’s shoulder. Combeferre laughed, kissing the top of Jehan’s head before heading back to the apartment’s tiny kitchen.

            “What do you want to do today?” he asked as he sat back down.

            “It’s your city,” Jehan replied, looking marginally more awake. “What do you suggest?”

            Combeferre considered. “Well, there are a ton of touristy things, of course,” he answered. “And we have about a million museums, which is a better option. Or…Hyde Park has used bookstores.”

            Jehan rolled his eyes. “You’ve probably cleared then out. What kind of museums?”

            “The Field Museum, Science and Industry, the art museum, the aquarium, the planetarium…” Combeferre listed. “I could go on.

            “No need,” Jehan replied. “That’s more than enough for one day as it is.”

            Combeferre grinned. “Come on – I have free membership passes.”

 

            “Where to first?” Jehan asked on the bus.

            “I was thinking the Field Museum,” Combeferre answered. “The great thing about Chicago is that all the museums are pretty close together, so all the walking will mostly be confined to the indoors.”

            Jehan nodded. “What’s in the Field Museum?”

            “A lot of it is history of civilization, and the rest is mostly dinosaur skeletons and taxidermied wildlife.”

            “Sounds sufficiently Romantic,” Jehan said, grinning.

                                                            

            Though it had hardly opened, the museum was already filled with people – mostly families with young children, Combeferre noticed. The entrance hall was especially packed.

            “Tourists: a hazard of Chicago museums during June,” he explained. They eventually made their way to the back of the hall, where one of Combeferre’s favorite exhibits was.

            “Sue, the world’s most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex,” he said proudly. Sue was the museum’s most famous exhibit, and for good reason. Even if Combeferre hadn’t been interested in paleontology, he still would have found the thirteen-foot-tall dinosaur impressive.  

            “Come on, let’s go before you start crying over some bones,” Jehan teased. “Where’s the taxidermy?”

           

            Over the course of the morning the two explored as much of the museum as was possible in such a short time. Jehan was particularly interested in the Greek exhibit, translating the more interesting passages written on various artifacts for the amusement of the other tourists. In the Mayan exhibit, Combeferre pointed out mistakes on the map of major Mayan cities and kept up a running informational commentary for Jehan’s benefit.

            “It’s almost as if you’ve been here before,” Jehan said with a smile when they stopped for lunch at the museum café. “Are you sure you don’t work as a tour guide?”

 

            Next was the planetarium, which both agreed was mildly disappointing. The old telescopes and astrolabes were probably the most interesting, Jehan thought, since most of the museum seemed to be endless exhibits about the solar system.

            “Let’s leave the aquarium and science museum for later,” Combeferre suggested as they left. “Otherwise we won’t do them justice,” he continued, and Jehan agreed.

           

            By the time they reached the art museum, both were exhausted. Combeferre suggested returning home, but Jehan shook his head, saying that since they were there they might as well look around. Once inside, he almost changed his mind.  

            “School trip,” Combeferre groaned, seeing the swarms of middle-schoolers who either looked deathly bored or extremely hyperactive.

            “Quick, find the least educational section of the museum,” Jehan whispered. Combeferre headed for the stairs, hoping that the school group hadn’t reached the second floor yet, only to be redirected by a guard who explained that “renovations” were underway upstairs.

            “You’re kidding me,” Combeferre grumbled as they made their way through the tightly packed crowd of other museum-goers, both feeling worn out and overwhelmed by the sheer amount of _things_ they had seen already.

            When they finally reached the Classical Sculpture wing, Jehan’s feet were sore and he was more focused on the fact that he would really more like to stop and rest than appreciate any of the art. Unfortunately, all the benches appeared to be occupied by tired teachers and their overexcited students. Seeing no other alternative, Jehan pulled Combeferre to a stop and sat down on the nearest steps.

            They had been sitting all of thirty seconds when a security guard informed them (loudly enough for all in the vicinity to hear, of course) that they were blocking the stairway and, in the process, creating a fire hazard. Combeferre stood up without complaint, sighing only when the guard had walked away. He sympathized with her position, and, considering she had most likely been surrounded by young children all day, could excuse her obvious impatience.

            Jehan was slightly less forgiving. “ _If_ there had been a fire, you can be assured I wouldn’t still be sitting on the stairs,” he said irritably.

            Both agreed that the museum was a lost cause and decided to go in search of dinner instead. They found a nearby street vendor selling cheap hot dogs and walked until they found a nearly-empty park to stop in.

            “That’s all the art I need at the moment,” Jehan said, pointing to a bright red, rather abstract sculpture in front of them.

            “It’s a Calder, I think,” Combeferre said. When he was tired he tended to be better with trivia than actual conversational material.

            “ _The Flying Dragon_ ,” Jehan read from the plaque near the sculpture. “It doesn’t look remotely like a dragon.”

            “Yes, well, _The Flamingo_ looks more like a really big spider, so that’s Calder for you,” Combeferre replied.

            “Hm,” Jehan said in reply, admiring the other statues in the park.

            After a while Combeferre spoke again. “Sorry the art museum was such a disaster.”

            “It’s alright,” Jehan said, looking back at him. “It was worth it.” Combeferre agreed when Jehan kissed him.


End file.
